Communications

I am collaborating with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public interest group, and the media organization MuckRock, to survey how law enforcement agencies deploy mobile biometric technologies.

Mobile biometric technologies can be defined as any mobile device or mobile app used by law enforcement agencies to scan, capture, analyze, store, or automatically recognize any physical or biological characteristic of a subject. Commonly used mobile biometric technologies include fingerprint/thumbprint collection, facial recognition, scans of the iris or other elements of the human eye, Rapid DNA, and tattoo recognition. (Please see below for examples.)

Pursuant to California Public Records Act (California Government Code §§ 6250), I request the following records pertaining to mobile biometric technologies, including those listed above, as well as other biometric technologies I have not identified:

1) Purchasing and procurement documents, including but not limited to: purchase orders, RFPs, responses to RFPs, invoices and contracts

4) Audit documents, including but not limited to: audits of the system, misuse reports, and reports to oversight bodies

In your response, I would appreciate that you individually address each of the above categories of documents individually.

In addition to the above classes of documents, I am also seeking the following information:

- The total number of individuals whose biometric data has been collected over the last three years, - The total number of [biometric data points] contained in the agency’s database- The retention period for biometric data- The number of mobile biometrics devices purchased and in use- The total number of authorized users of the mobile biometrics devices - Which external agencies and entities have access to biometric data in the database and under what conditions, - Whether biometric data is combined with biographic data such as name and address in the database, and - The process by which data is entered into the database

These documents will be published online and inform the public dialog over police technology. Because of the great public interest in these issues, I ask that you waive any fees. If your agency is unable to do so, please contact me with an estimate of the costs.

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 10, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

Pursuant to your Public Records Act request below, the City of Santa Monica, which includes the Santa Monica Police Department, responds as follows. To evaluate a Public Records Act request under the California Public Records Act, California Government §§6250 et seq., the threshold question is whether the document is a public record subject to disclosure governed by Government Code §§6254 et seq. and §6255.

1) Purchasing and procurement documents, including but not limited to: purchase orders, RFPs, responses to RFPs, invoices and contractsThe City of Santa Monica has no records responsive to your request.

2) Policy, procedural, and training documents, including but not limited to: use policies, standard operating procedures, training materials, presentations, privacy assessments, data retention policies, and other guidelinesThe City of Santa Monica has no records responsive to your request.

4) Audit documents, including but not limited to: audits of the system, misuse reports, and reports to oversight bodiesThe City of Santa Monica has no records responsive to your request.

In your response, I would appreciate that you individually address each of the above categories of documents individually.In addition to the above classes of documents, I am also seeking the following information:- The total number of individuals whose biometric data has been collected over the last three years,The City of Santa Monica has no records responsive to your request.

- The total number of [biometric data points] contained in the agency's databaseThe City of Santa Monica has no records responsive to your request.

- The retention period for biometric dataThe City of Santa Monica has no records responsive to your request.

- The number of mobile biometrics devices purchased and in useThe City of Santa Monica has not purchased any biometric devices, however, the Los Angeles Sheriff Department has lent our police department approximately 35 mobile fingerprinting units and those units are currently in use. The City of Santa Monica does not have any records concerning the use of all devices owned by the Los Angeles Sheriff Department.

- The total number of authorized users of the mobile biometrics devicesThe City of Santa Monica has no records responsive to your request.

- Which external agencies and entities have access to biometric data in the database and under what conditions,The City of Santa Monica has no records responsive to your request.

- Whether biometric data is combined with biographic data such as name and address in the database, andthe process by which data is entered into the databaseThe City of Santa Monica has no records responsive to your request.

The City would like to assist you and we will provide reasonable access to any documents which are readily identifiable and available for disclosure, if any exist. California Government Code §6253.1.